Crescent butt plates, how to shoot w/o owies

[J Miller]

Some time back I believe it was KirkD who posted a photo tutorial on how to shoot rifles with crescent butt plates with out getting hurt. I though I'd saved it, but can't find it.
Anybody here have the url to that thread?

Joe

[Old Ironsights]

Place crescent just below the shoulder joint in the upper arm (there's a "notch" between the bicep and shoulder joint), NOT in the pocket of the shoulder.

That's all there is to it.

[J Miller]

Yep, that part I remember. I was just hoping for the pics

Oh, if I screw up and get bruised and contused I'll be posting pics.

Joe

[Lastmohecken]

The main thing is, make sure you settle the buttplate on your arm/shoulder/etc. where you do not fell either the upper or lower point of the cresent buttplate. You will know when it feels right. You have to spread the recoil out over the inside of the curve as evenly as possible.

I have seen a few muzzleloaders with such terrible buttplates that I wonder if anyone could shoot them without getting stabbed by the ends of that cresent moon, as some are too small to even put off on your arm, anywhere, unless you were a very small person.

[Ben_Rumson]

Have you tried searching Kirk's posts using the term crescent buttplate ?

[J Miller]

Have you tried searching Kirk's posts using the term crescent buttplate ?

Not yet, been busy trying to find an FFL in this area that will accept shipment from a private person. Running into problems.
Will try now.

Joe

[J Miller]

Have you tried searching Kirk's posts using the term crescent buttplate ?

Ben,
Found it.

Joe

[Ben_Rumson]

[awp101]

C'mon! Owies build character and put hair on yer chest!

I don't like heavy recoilers or crescent buttplates either...

[J Miller]

C'mon! Owies build character and put hair on yer chest!

I don't like heavy recoilers or crescent buttplates either...

I have a sufficient amount of hair on my chest.
I have spinal arthritis with a couple nearly collapsed discs,
I have a purple, black, blue and yellow sprained ankle,
I have a messed up neck ............

so I believe my owies have built enough character for the rest of my life.

Joe

[.Dirty-.Thirty]

I made the mistake of stuffing 50gr of H4198 into a .45/70 case and topping it off with a 350gr bullet and firing a handful of these cartridges through the metal cresent butt plate of my Buffalo Classic. I said words other than owie between shots

[hfcable]

or use one of these:

http://www.buffaloarms.com/browse.cfm/2,169.html

doesnt modify the gun, looks 'authentic', is comfortable, protects the vulnerable toe of gun when being carried or hunting. etc etc

this is what i do. you can cut a bit of foam to fit in the pad the matches the curve of the butt plate if you want to go deluxe.

[awp101]

so I believe my owies have built enough character for the rest of my life.

Joe

[kimwcook]

Shooting my Winoku 45-90 that has a CB with semi-hot loads will get your attention if you don't place it right.

[J Miller]

or use one of these:

http://www.buffaloarms.com/browse.cfm/2,169.html

doesnt modify the gun, looks 'authentic', is comfortable, protects the vulnerable toe of gun when being carried or hunting. etc etc

this is what i do. you can cut a bit of foam to fit in the pad the matches the curve of the butt plate if you want to go deluxe.

That's not such a bad idea. I really don't think I'll have too much trouble. After all, the 30-30 don't have any recoil ...

Joe

[KirkD]

Here are the photos of how I hold a crescent butt to my upper arm. It goes right into that handy notch at the top of the bicep. No problem with it hurting because the nice, curved buttplate curves around the upper arm making it so comfy a fellow can shoot all day long. In fact, the heavier the recoil, the more I prefer those nice crescent buttplates to spread out the pressure over a longer area. The upper arm also has a bit more give than a shoulder, which makes recoil even more comfy.

[J Miller]

Kirk,

Thanks for posting those pics. I'm going to keep them for reference.
They show the technique perfectly.

Joe

[Driftwood Johnson]

Howdy

A couple of further comments about crescent buttplates. The photo showing that nice '73 head on is particularly instructive. One mistake modern riflemen make with crescent buttplates is in addition to putting the butt on the meaty part of the shoulder, they stand facing the target.

It often helps if one changes one's stance a bit with a crescent buttplate. In addition to placing it in the correct place on the arm, it helps if one raises the right elbow up just as in the photo. Many modern shooters shoot facing the target with the elbow down kind of low. Raising the elbow will help bring the stock up to the face, rather than bending the head to bring it down to the stock. When I take my stance, I find it helpful to stand at about 45 degrees to the target, rather than facing it. This means when I raise my elbow up, the rifle is positioned across my chest a bit. The stock comes right up to my cheek and I don't have to bend my neck at all.

I used to have a nice old Winchester 94. It was a lovely old gun, with a pistol grip and a crescent buttplate. Somebody had cut the barrel down to 20" and cut the magazine in half. That meant it was really light. Just shooting factory 30-30 in it hurt so much I would flinch every time. I had no idea how to shoot a gun with a crescent buttplate. That gun was stolen a long, long time ago, but I wish I still had it, now that I know how to shoot it.

Crescent buttplates were very popular in the 1800s. They were standard on any Winchester made in the rifle configuration. The old guys must have known something about shooting them.

On the other hand, I made sure to get a 'shotgun style' buttplate when I bought my 45-70 Pedersoli Sharps.

[lthardman]

Good tips. I found out about the proper placement of a rifle with a crescent butt plate AFTER some pretty brutal trips to the range. Just by accident, I tried it the proper way and immediately thought that was better. Appreciate the tips on stance also.

[Cimarron Red]

This is what I do to tame crescent butt recoil. The hand-carved piece of hardwood and the velcro-on pad also lengthen the LOP which suits me better. This is on a Browning 1886, but I've made 'fillers' for some of my other guns as well.

[Griff]

Howdy

A couple of further comments about crescent buttplates. The photo showing that nice '73 head on is particularly instructive. One mistake modern riflemen make with crescent buttplates is in addition to putting the butt on the meaty part of the shoulder, they stand facing the target.

It often helps if one changes one's stance a bit with a crescent buttplate. In addition to placing it in the correct place on the arm, it helps if one raises the right elbow up just as in the photo. Many modern shooters shoot facing the target with the elbow down kind of low. Raising the elbow will help bring the stock up to the face, rather than bending the head to bring it down to the stock. When I take my stance, I find it helpful to stand at about 45 degrees to the target, rather than facing it. This means when I raise my elbow up, the rifle is positioned across my chest a bit. The stock comes right up to my cheek and I don't have to bend my neck at all.

I used to have a nice old Winchester 94. It was a lovely old gun, with a pistol grip and a crescent buttplate. Somebody had cut the barrel down to 20" and cut the magazine in half. That meant it was really light. Just shooting factory 30-30 in it hurt so much I would flinch every time. I had no idea how to shoot a gun with a crescent buttplate. That gun was stolen a long, long time ago, but I wish I still had it, now that I know how to shoot it.

Crescent buttplates were very popular in the 1800s. They were standard on any Winchester made in the rifle configuration. The old guys must have known something about shooting them.

On the other hand, I made sure to get a 'shotgun style' buttplate when I bought my 45-70 Pedersoli Sharps.

Oh, you mean using proper hold and "addressing" the target properly! Yea, them old-timers probably forgot more about proper hold than many modern shooters have bothered to learn. And I did the same with my 40-90 Sharps... Heavy charges behind heavy boolits are tamed by weight in the gun, a nice wide area to dissipate recoil, along with proper stance and hold!

Holding that elbow up will also keep you from pinching your arm and chest with the bottom of the butt where they can mash together if you drop that elbow. Good pics Kirk.

[cowboykell]

Any one re-invent the wheel too?

[Griff]

Henry Ford... he massed produced them.

[hfcable]

Cimarron, you got the idea. i use a lace on pac and foam rather than wood filler on a crescent butt, and just use the lace on cuff for the hard butt plate gun. i have a bunch of these and some of my guns have them left in place.

[Cimarron Red]

hfcable,

I've used foam instead of wood, and as you say it works, too. But for me, in combination with the recoil pad the foam feels a bit too squishy. Either with foam or wood, though, I like the extra length. So I use wooden fillers and a slip-on pad on light-recoiling guns also.

[Driftwood Johnson]

Howdy Again

I must be doing something right, I can shoot these babies all day long without any owies at all.











However I opted for a 'shotgun style' butt on this puppy. A little more recoil than I want to be dealing with using a crescent buttplate. I often shoot it from a bench, and hiking a crescent shaped buttplate out to the shoulder joint can be awkward at the bench. So this one gets placed against the meaty part of my shoulder.



P.S. The one thing we have not mentioned in this discussion is when a crescent shaped buttplate is used correctly, the butt stays in place and does not slide around like a flatter style buttplate placed against the chest can do. That is the whole purpose of it, the points surround the socket of the shoulder joint and prevent it from sliding up or down.

[Nath]

I use to have a 45 Kentucky front loader that I had alot of cresent but I never had an issue, mis it in fact

At a range once a guy was shooting a 375H&H with some cresent and takin' it like a man benching the thing.
He offered me a round and greatfully I accepted but took the shot standing as demonstrated by Kirk. It was a pleasant experiance but my bud was offered a shot and chose to bench it It ruined his day!

I hate recoil, when I'm shooting at paper anything above Hornet will have me getting the jitters and acting stupid n' all, I did stuff a news paper in my jacket once benching a lite 270, it did help.

One thing I am never happy with is modern guns never seem to fit me right. I like to be able to shoot off hand but the only guns that feel right to me are the old ones, they point more like a nice shotgun than the modern guns. My EBR don't feel right, yes in a pinch I can do it off hand but it's not "nice" and I am forever looking for a rest. All the old cresent stocked guns that I shot where a joy to use.

Nath.

[Cimarron Red]

I love the look of a rifle with a crescent butt plate, but I'm far more comfortable shooting a gun with a shotgun butt. And it's not just a matter of recoil. Holding a rifle so that the crescent butt is placed on the shoulder joint puts the gun too far from my face. This, in turn, causes me to cock my head to the right so my cheek is properly placed on the rifle's comb. For me such a position does not allow for the most accurate shooting. In the standing position ideally the eyes should be level and the head upright, and I cant the rifle to the left to accomplish this. With the crescent butt on the shoulder joint getting the head upright is difficult and uncomfortable, at least for me it is. Almost all my shooting these days is at silhouettes and paper targets, so I'll take the shotgun butt or turn my crescent butts into shotgun butts.

[Driftwood Johnson]

Howdy Again

You might try adjusting your stance as I have suggested. Facing about 45 - 90 degrees to the target, and raising the elbow up nice and high brings the stock right up to my face. I don't have to bend my neck to bring my face down to the gun, the gun comes up to me.

[Cimarron Red]

Driftwood,

My stance is 90 degrees to the target, and I shoot with a high elbow. With this style I've shot into Master Class in NRA BPCR silhouettes and into AAA Class in NRA levergun silhouettes. Each of us is unique in build, and each of us must develop a shooting style that he can be successful with.

[KirkD]

Driftwood,

My stance is 90 degrees to the target, and I shoot with a high elbow. With this style I've shot into Master Class in NRA BPCR silhouettes and into AAA Class in NRA levergun silhouettes. Each of us is unique in build, and each of us must develop a shooting style that he can be successful with.

At the end of the day, it is bullets on target that counts. Perfect targets trump style any day of the week.

[kimwcook]

At the end of the day, it is bullets on target that counts. Perfect targets trump style any day of the week.

I wholly agree, but with one caveat, good function usually follows good form. Now that form is up to the individual to tweek to their individual style. We're all individuals and what specifically works for one may not work for another. But, at the end of the day.....

[Old Time Hunter]

Crescent buttplates were very popular in the 1800s. They were standard on any Winchester made in the rifle configuration. The old guys must have known something about shooting them.

My Gramps said that the crescent buttplate worked extremely well when riding a horse and placing the buttplate in the "crook" of your elbow. Kind of an unorthodox placement of your cheek weld near the wrist, but gave you better control of your reigns, either in the palm of the front hand or you could still use it in your trigger hand. He said it also allowed for shooting while the horse was moving, allowing for compensation to the up and down, jostling movements.

I actually have attempted using this method free hand, it's not too bad, darn near eliminates all kick.

[Mutt]

I'm told and have read that it was the best way shooting from horse back when the need was there.

Mutt

[bobbyjack]

I didn't like the staight back recoil of the Win 94 ,so I took the butt plate off a Hawkins 50 cal and used a band saw and
lots of sanding and the 50 cal butt plate tamed that dude! It was a 1974 mod 94 that I bought for 100 out the door!

So I just made it Mine!

Bob